The Last Experience Point

Chapter 88: A Chance Encounter

With a far louder grunt than he’d intended to make, Zach furiously and vengefully slammed his sword down with all of his might on top of the large, bulky, and armored Gatekeeper that stood before the door labeled B9->B10. He was in such a bad mood that, even after he’d cleaved the armor-wearing mob in two halves, dealing 19,724 damage, he continued along with the motion and actually struck the ground, too, sending concrete and gravel spraying high enough to touch the ceiling. In the corner of his vision, he realized he’d also caused his weapon to proc its light-based ability, which he had yet to see.

Now, what looked like fifty star-shaped emblems of light surrounded the split-in-half mob before collapsing together into one another as though converging upon a single point, forming a singular, brightly glowing orb. Then this orb exploded, bathing the entire floor in a fleeting yet incredibly bright light that caused him to take one of his hands off his blade so that he could shield his eyes. This dealt another 92,413 damage and earned him and Kalana +1500xp in the process.

“Zach, please calm down,” she said to him, her voice sounding both sad and cute. It was a combination that struck right at his heart. But this time, he really wasn’t going to fall for it. “Please don’t be mad at me, baby.”

When she made her cute voice, it was so incredibly difficult to stay upset with her. The fact that he was able to do so was proof of how serious an offense she’d committed against him. He was absolutely boiling right now. His blood was boiling. He even shrugged her off as she tried to put a hand on his shoulder, something he’d normally never do.

“Kal, I don’t even know what to say to you right now.”

The worst part of it all was that they’d been having so much fun and had been so happy. It was just like earlier in the day, when they’d been getting along so well, and their relationship was going great, and then BOOM! She just had to hit him with something devastating to ruin the mood and turn everything serious. Except, this time, she really had gone too far. And he wanted her to know this.

“What you said to me, Kal. You, the person who’s always telling me not to be mean…that was probably the worst thing I’ve ever heard you say.”

“But I wasn’t trying to be mean! I just love you. And I’m gonna say it again until you listen to me.”

He glared at her. “You better not. That was the most insulting thing you’ve ever said. I feel sick to my stomach.”

She pouted, but he ignored it. Kalana knew how to weaponize her facial expressions to cut right through his anger, which right now, he really wanted to feel. Oh, Gods, the thing that she had said to him. It infected his brain like a virus and was spreading. He couldn’t unhear it. He couldn’t purge his memory of those awful words.

“Please don’t be upset. I didn’t say anything bad. You’re just reacting to it badly.”

Zach looked at her, and he could feel his eyes bulging in his sockets. “Are you serious, Kal? You said I…you said…” He seethed, wishing that steam could come out of his ears just to relieve some of the pressure. “You said I should get therapy!”

“You should! I’m sorry I upset you, but I stand by it. I want you to talk to this one woman I know. She’s really nice!”

Zach was so flustered he almost cut his own face trying to sheathe his sword. “Therapy, Kal? Therapy? Should I have my testicles removed while I’m at it, too? I can’t believe you’d even say something like that. Do you think I’m crazy?”

“No! Absolutely not. And just so you know, therapy’s not for ‘crazy’ people. It’s for people who wanna feel and do better, and you know what? Everyone could use some of it.”

He snorted. “Okay, so why don’t you see a therapist then, Kal? Huh?”

She stomped her foot. “I do! Twice a week!”

He stared at her blanky. “Wait, really?”

“Yah!”

“Okay, well…even still, I don’t need it and it’s never happening.”

“Yes you do, Zach. You need to work on your anger management.”

“For the millionth time, Kal. I. Do. Not. Have. A. Problem. With. Anger. MANAGEMENT!” he screamed, punching the metal door in front of him so hard that it broke off and flew all the way into the stairwell ahead of him. Then he made a dumb expression as he looked at Kalana, who was folding her arms and narrowing her eyes at him. “Except for that time,” he said. “But that was a one-off. It doesn’t cou—”

There was a tremendous bang as the metal door hit the bottom of the first flight somewhere below them. Then, despite having sent the thing all the way down an entire set of stairs, he’d actually hit the door so hard that, upon striking the wall, it ricocheted directly back in the direction it came from, headed right up the very same set of stairs, flipped vertically into an upright position so that it could fit back through the frame, and then it slammed into Zach with such an intense, supernatural force that, caught unaware, it actually sent him airborne. Now, both he and the door went flying off more than fifty feet in the opposite direction until he came to a stop only after he slammed into a cavern-like, rocky wall in B9, leaving an indentation in it in the shape of his body.

“Say nothing, Kal,” he warned, his body sliding downwards until he landed on his butt. “So help me Gods, say nothing.”

She didn’t listen. “Do you see what your anger just did? See?” She pointed at him. “Therapy could’ve prevented that.”

Okay, that’s it!

Zach was about to explode with rage. He was about to detonate. But then, something caught his attention. Right in front of his eyes, he saw the following floating in the air ahead of him: +1000xp. Then, scooting forward a bit, he turned around on his rear and saw that he had just accidentally crushed to death a mob from B9 called “Sturdily Armored Knight.” Following the sound of its armor, which began to clink as it shook and jittered, the mob—along with its armor—faded away into a puff of smoke, which quickly rose on the air before vanishing. Now, in the spot where it had been, there was a blue, shining light, which caused Zach’s eyes to light up. This meant he’d gotten a drop: and it was a rare drop, too!

“Now do you see?” he asked Kalana, laughing triumphantly, his mood restored. “Do you see what my anger did? I just killed a mob and got a drop—and it was all thanks to my anger.” He pointed at the blue, shining light. “Anger did this, Kal. This was all thanks to anger.”

“That doesn’t prove anything,” she grumbled.

He bent down and grabbed the item on the floor. Whatever it was, it was wrapped in plastic, and it was hot to the touch and soft. The item was also circular and slightly larger than the palm of his hand. Very quickly, he realized it was some sort of cookie. It actually smelled really good, and it made his stomach growl. The moment he held it in his hand, he called forth the item in his inventory to see what he’d gotten.

Name

Wisdom Cookie (Small)

Description

A delicious, milk-chocolate cookie. Consume to grant +5000xp. Tastes best while hot. Only one bite is required to receive xp. If shared, xp is split evenly by up to four individuals. Can only be shared with party members. The decision to share must be made within five minutes of picking up item. Each cookie contains 490 calories.

Right away, Kal gave him one of her most innocent, sweetest looks. Her voice dropped in volume, she folded her hands together, interlocking her fingers, and with an expression that he stood no chance against, she asked, “Can you share it with me, Zach? We’re gonna eat lunch soon, and this way we won’t ruin our appetite.”

“Only if you admit anger is good.”

“Nah-uh. And you’re still gonna share even if I don’t say it…right?”

He let out a sigh. “Yeah, yeah.” Now, he smiled at her, unable to stay mad for long. He decided to just let the whole thing drop.

She’s wrong about me, anyway.

The reason Zach knew for sure that he didn’t have problems with anger management was because whenever he would get into a rage, as long as he was able to break something or smash something to pieces, he typically started to feel better within five minutes. In other words, you might even say that he managed his anger. That was how it worked, right? And if not, then that was the fault of whoever decided to make that term, not him.

The fact he could feel better by blowing something up or putting his fist through something clearly meant that he was “managing” it. People with actual anger-management issues wouldn’t feel better by smashing something apart or violently threatening someone: things that Zach wanted to do any time someone looked at him the wrong way, chewed bubblegum too loudly, cleared their throat over and over, waited on line without knowing what they were going to order, or when he kept forgetting that the World Eater was going to spawn in just five years, two weeks, and one day, and he still hadn’t made his way to Dragon Squire due to the simple fact that he kept forgetting this very important detail seconds after remembering it.

…

…

You know? Those kinds of things. The stuff just about everyone hated.

Anger issues, he thought, rolling his eyes. Yeah right.

Flipping the cookie over, he smoothened out the plastic on the back so that he could read the writing on it. With Kalana looking over his shoulder, he read it aloud for both of them. “Twenty years after we introduced the food and drink update,” he read, “Galterrans have been consistently asking us to add even more yummy snacks to the loot tables. The Great Ones have heard you. Please enjoy. Courtesy of Eilea Vayra’s special recipe.”

Zach looked at Kalana. “Eilea Vayra?” he asked. “Another ancestor of yours?”

She nodded. “Yep. That’s Adamus’s wife. She’s a Goddess.”

Zach turned the words over in his head, somewhat dubious to the claim. “Hey, Kal?”

“Yep?”

“Are you sure these Great Ones are actually Gods and Goddesses and not just, like, really powerful people?”

“Oh, they’re definitely Gods.”

“It’s just…I don’t know. If the Great Ones are Gods, then what does that say about all the Gods and Goddesses that people worship on the weekends?”

“Oh, I see why you’re confused,” Kalana said. “You’re confusing Greater Gods with Lesser Gods.”

“What’s the difference?”

“Greater Gods are the ones that made the universe and everything in it, and they’re the really mysterious ones that know everything and can read our thoughts, and they’re also the ones who get to judge us and decide who gets into Elvadin and who goes to the Pit of Eternal Sorrow.”

“And the Lesser Gods?”

“They’re just Gods, but…but not as powerful. I dunno. On second thought, it is kinda confusing. I guess you can think of them as like angels or something. They’re servants of the Greater Gods. Basically, before there was a universe as we know it, the God Raurum made a special world called Elvadin. It’s where all the Elves come from. In the beginning, the most powerful God in existence, Raurum, made us and gave us Elvadin.”

“And where did the humans come from? Humadin?” he joked.

“Earth,” Kalana answered, slapping him playfully on the shoulder. Then she continued. “Anyways, Elves became greedy and stopped having faith in Raurum, so he exiled us in the universe he created as sort of a prison. But because he still loves and cares for the Elvish people, he told us that one day we would find Elvadin again if we learn to be good and righteous. Now do you understand?”

“Meh. Sounds like a load of bullshit to me.”

“Zach, that’s really mean! You can’t insult my beliefs like that.”

“Sorry.”

“And besides, if Raurum didn’t make the Elves, then how do you think Elves came to be?”

“The same way everything else did,” he said. “Somewhere, in some planet out there, you guys evolved from something. Just like humans evolved on Galterra from…” he stopped himself. “Wait, that’s not right. We come from Earth. Does that mean my science book is wrong?”

“Yah! Ah…I think, I mean. What’d Mr. Oren teach us? I forgot.”

“Mr. Oren taught us that humans evolved on Galterra tens of thousands of years ago from a common ancestor that was similar to an ape. But I know that can’t be right, because I’ve seen Earth with my own eyes. I guess…wow, I guess evolution is wrong after all?”

“Of course it is,” Kalana said with a laugh. “The Gods made Elves and humans and all the other races. I know ‘cause it says so in the archives on my island.”

I don’t know about that, Zach thought, still skeptical. It feels like something’s off about all this.

“Zach, come on, open up the cookie while it’s still hot. It smells so good like it was just baked.”

Putting aside such pointless thoughts, Zach carefully tore open the top of the plastic, then removed the soft cookie from within. He split it down the middle, and due to the heat, several of the melted chips caused a sort of milk-chocolate drizzle to almost fall off the cookie. He handed Kalana half, then took a bite out of his. The flavor struck him immediately. Gods, this was amazing. He could see from the way Kalana closed her eyes that, she too, was very much pleased.

“Wow,” she said. “Wow.”

“It’s good, right? Do the mobs on your island ever drop food?”

“Not really. I only ever saw that one mob that we hunted together drop food. Uh, Frog Snax.”

“Those tasted really good, actually,” Zach said. “You’d also love Skelly Chips.” Wiping his hands on his pants as a +2500xp popped up in front of him, he met Kalana’s eyes as an idea popped into his head. It was an idea so incredible he couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought about it until just now. It would require him to make a major, dire concession, and one that would fill him with absolute dread later on, but it would also give him something he wanted very badly.

“Hey, Kal,” he said.

“Yeah?”

“How about we make a deal where we both get something we want?”

“A deal? What kind of deal?”

Zach pointed a finger at himself. “Even though I really, really don’t want to, I’ll go to your dumb therapy thing. But you have to do something for me in return.”

“What’s that?”

“I want you to take the buff back and become an adventurer again.”

She fixed him with a hard look, and as he met her eyes, Zach was surprised that he genuinely could not get any kind of read on what she was thinking or feeling. The fact that she stared at him without saying a word actually made him sort of nervous. Kalana was rarely this guarded. Was she thinking about his offer? If so, why did she seem like she was focusing all of her energy into studying him? There was a certain intensity in the way she was peering at him: as though she were trying to peer into his very soul.

After a few more moments of what Zach took to be silent contemplation from Kalana, her jaw stiffened, she stood up straighter, and she gave him a single, powerful nod. “You’ve got a deal,” she said.

Zach was actually shocked. He never would’ve expected her to accept so readily. He’d known it was a longshot. The fact she agreed to it despite having so many plans that ran contrary to being an adventurer…it surprised him.

“Really?” he asked.

“Yep. I’ll keep the buff as long as you keep going, and I’ll put my plans on hold. But you gotta meet with Jascaila when we go back to my island. She’s one of the best in the world, and I promise you that one day you’re gonna thank me and say how glad you were that you went.”

Zach held out his hand. “Shake on it?”

She took it. And like business associates, the two of them shook. And with that, they hurried through the door-less frame labeled B9->B10 and began to head down what Zach recalled was ten flights of stairs. For a short while, the only sound to be heard was a hallway-like echo as their feet stomped down on step after step, crossing the first, second, and then third flights.

“This is actually kind of fun,” she said. “I never knew dungeons were so cool.”

“What did you think they’d be like?”

She shrugged, the two of them now having descended five flights. “I thought they’d be like…umm, you know, dungeons. Like where the ancient kings would send people. Sort of like a prison, but only darker and dirtier.”

Zach laughed. “Okay, so a literal dungeon, then?”

“Yeah.”

Descending down the seventh flight, he said, “Floor B2 is like that. Actually, you’d love B2, Kal. I might have to run through that with you some time.” He began to tell her the way that floor B2 worked. Yet she interrupted him part of the way through his explanation.

“Zach, why would I like that? That sounds super-duper spooky.”

“No, wait, you didn’t let me finish.”

“Oh, sorry!”

Resuming where he’d left off, he told Kalana how, at the end of the area she’d referred to as “super-duper spooky,” it was at this point you’d arrive in a garage filled with various cars. Naturally, he had to tell her what a car was and how those worked. This caused her cute, pointy ears to twitch, and she became excited as he explained to her how much fun it had been to drive down some ancient highway in a place called “New Jersey” while taking in all the ruins-like sights in the vehicle known as a “Ford Mustang.”

Everything Zach told her seemed to make her more and more excited. Yet, at the same time, there was sadness that was plain on her face as well. He decided to ask her about it. Yet before he had the chance, she brought it up on her own.

“You got to do so many fun things while we were apart,” she said with a sigh. “I wish I’d have been there with you.”

Rather than reply, Zach took out his cell phone and looked at the time as they began to descend the final flight of stairs. “As long as we’re back in time for the raid tomorrow morning, I don’t think anyone’s going to care.”

Kalana glanced at him as though confused. “What’s that got to do with what I just said?”

“Oh, only that, I’m wondering if maybe we should go on a little adventure of our own after lunch, just you and me. Even if we decide to play it safe and get back to Mr. Oren and the others before the sun rises, we’ve got like twelve hours between now and then. Let’s say we spend two hours—and we might not even spend that long—but let’s say we spend two full hours in Angelica’s. That gives us a lot of time left over.”

“Time to do what?” she asked.

He grinned. “To see what’s beyond Moldark.”

Kalana widened her eyes, yet also furrowed her brow: as though she were caught between two competing impulses. “That’s risky,” she said. “Who knows if we can even get back.”

“Even if we don’t…at this point, Kal, I’ve done my part, and so have you. No one can say I haven’t contributed enough to that fucking dragon. Having said that, though, I know for a fact we’ll make it back in time.”

“How so?”

He shuddered. “Because call it fate, destiny, or an act of the Gods, but there’s no way the universe is going to let me escape having to see that Gods-cursed thing a third and final time. I’m sure of it.”

She shot him a nervous, apprehensive smile. “Let’s talk about it over lunch, okay?”

He nodded. Then, he held out his hand and waited for Kalana to take it. Together, they pushed open the door labeled B10, stepped out onto the soft, royal-red-colored carpet, and now, even having eaten half a cookie, Zach’s appetite roared as he realized he was finally about to be reunited with Angelica’s incredible food.

“It’s just up ahead.” He pointed.

“I’m so excited!” Kalana said, an adorable little squeak following her words. “It’s really cramped in here though.”

“Don’t worry. This is just the tiny area before the boss fight.” With her hand in his, he guided her. “I’ll show you.”

The look of this floor reminded Zach a whole lot of a hotel hallway. Just a few inches in front of the stairwell, there was a wall, and other than this wall, there were two short, connected paths, one to his left and one to his right; together, these two paths formed the narrow, hotel-like hallway. The path to his left went on for about twenty feet before cutting off at a dead-end, making Zach wonder why it was even there at all, but the one to his right continued on for about thirty feet and ended in a set of double-doors that would open up to a much larger area: a throne room where Moldark would be awaiting.

However, on the right side of the wall, just before the double-doors that led to the boss fight, there was an even smaller door—and this one served as an entrance to Angelica’s, one of many. Zach wondered just how many doors leading to Angelica’s there happened to be in the world. Hundreds? Thousands? Millions? He had absolutely no idea.

“Angelica’s is just through that door there,” he told Kalana, pointing at it.

She gave him a kiss on the cheek. “I’m so glad you took me. I know you wanted me to come here, and I’m really happy we’re finally going.”

“You’re going to love it, Kal. It’s the best place ever.”

“I can’t wait! But uh…I’m curious.” She turned her head to the left and glanced at the red-carpeted path that led to the dead end. “What’s over that way?” she asked.

“Oh, nothing. That’s a dead-end.”

“Why would they make the hallway go all the way over there for no reason?”

Zach shrugged. “Who knows?” He rubbed his head and chuckled as Kalana pulled her hand away and began to walk down the ominously, perfectly quiet hallway; the eerie silence caused what would otherwise be a very soft thud from her gentle footsteps to sound more like thunder amid the absolute silence.

“Kal, I’m starving,” he said. “Let’s go already.”

“I just wanna see what’s down here.”

“There’s nothing there.”

“Then why’d they put it here?”

He sighed and decided to wait for her. He watched as she walked to the very end, then stopped in front of the dull, orange-colored wallpaper that greeted her at the end. Then she lifted her hand and slowly moved it in front of herself, resting it on the wall, her palm flat. Then she gently patted it a few times as if to convince herself that there was really nothing there. Finally, she laughed, turned around, and shrugged. “Okay, yep, it’s just a dead-end.” And with that, she jogged back to him, her footsteps even louder against the backdrop of oppressive quiet.

“Told you,” he said. He half-turned around to face the double-doors as well as the door to Angelica's, but before fully spinning back in that direction, he waited for Kalana to stand by his side so that he could put his arm around her shoulders and hold her closer to him. “Anyway, you’ve got to try this one thing that she makes. It costs 500 points, but it’s amazing, Kal. Seriously. She basically takes two pieces of bread, and then she—”

Zach felt his heart leap in his chest. “Wh-wh-wh-wh-what the fuck is that!”

From the dead-end path to his left, something emerged from the wall like a ghost. Having not been staring directly at it, his brain registered it as little more than a blur of motion followed by a loud pattern of frenzied, hurried tapping. When set against such a quiet, still environment, it had the effect of startling the fuck out of him. In the blink of an eye, the stillness and silence were broken by something moving and quite possibly alive, the combined effect of which caused Zach’s natural reflexes to kick into gear, making him stumble away from it, losing his balance in the process.

Kalana, who hadn’t even been faced in that direction, now also yelped as though reacting off nothing but his fear, as she clearly couldn’t see what had spooked him. “Zach, what’s wrong?” she shouted, alarmed. She immediately spun around. Then she gasped. “Oh my Gods, are you okay?” she called. Suddenly, she began rushing forward in the direction of the dead-end as Zach regained his balance and confusedly called after her.

Now, he understood that what had emerged from the wall—the very same solid wall that Kalana had tapped on with her palm—was what appeared to be a human woman. She was on her feet but partially bent over, her hand clutching her stomach, and a trail of red following each of her footsteps. Her knees were wobbling, and with wail of pain, she collapsed first onto her stomach, then with another pained cry, she rolled over onto her side.

Zach, having no idea what the hell was going on, raced forward to join Kalana. “Who is she?” he asked. “What’s going on?”

“I dunno,” Kalana said. “But now’s not really the time to find out. Whoever she is, she clearly needs our help.”

“But…but how’d she come through the wall like that, Kal?”

“Now’s not the time for thinking. It’s the time for saving!”

Even while grappling with a sudden rush of chaos and confusion as he tried to make sense of what had just happened, Zach still had enough mental processing left over in his brain to realize that Kalana, at least right now, sounded exactly like Mr. Oren. That was totally something he’d say if he was here with them.

Zach bent down to one knee, and he placed his arms on the woman’s shoulders. “We’re here to help you, ma’am,” he said. He looked at Kalana. “Is it safe to move her? I’m not a doctor. But Angelica’s is right down the hall, and there’s always healers around.”

Kalana opened her mouth but quickly closed it—yet only for a moment. Removing one of her daggers, she once more opened it and said, “Let me try something. Val En Haila Gen Vra!”

A green, pillar-shaped column of energy appeared from the ceiling above them and shined directly down on the woman, who groaned and hissed and moaned all at the same time. She was shaking, and upon placing his hand on her forehead, Zach realized she felt way colder and clammier than was normal. She was probably not far from death.

The green energy vanished, and if it had done anything at all to the woman’s benefit, then Zach could not tell what it was. “Shoot,” Kalana said. “My heal’s not strong enough to help her. I think you should carry her, Zach. We’re practically right there.”

He nodded. “I’m going to pick you up, okay, ma’am?”

The woman looked up at him. And then, even as weak and pained as she was, Zach could actually see the pupils in her eyes widen, and a tear fell down her right eye. “It’s you,” she said. “Zach. It’s really you.”

He sighed, as Kalana gave him a firm look that he knew was a warning for him to be nice. “That’s right,” he said. “It’s me and Princess Kalana. We’re here to save you.”

“No, no, I’m not…I’m…I know who you are. I’ve known.” She coughed.

From the looks of things, something had pierced both the woman’s lower stomach and her chest area—hopefully not her heart. She was bleeding heavily—and she’d likely been bleeding awhile, too. There was no telling just how much blood she’d lost.

“You’re going to pull through, okay? And then me and Kal will sign autographs for you.” He glanced over to Kalana, who flashed him a look of approval that indicated he’d said the right thing.

“You don’t…understand, Zach. I’m…I know you and Kalana.”

“Be still. I’m going to carry you now.”

“I know you!”

“Yep. I’m the same guy from the news.”

He decided he’d have to cradle her, as putting her over his shoulder could only cause her to leak blood faster. So before lifting her, he first rolled the woman over onto her back, and in doing so, he was able to get a good look at her face. She definitely wasn’t someone he’d seen before, at least not to the extent that he’d recognize her.

She appeared to be a woman in her late thirties, possibly early forties, and she had long, flowing black hair that reached down to her shoulders. Her skin was fairly dark in complexion, though not quite black, and although she was wearing some form of equipment, he didn’t think it was the sort of “equipment” in the sense of it being an item: as in something viewable in one’s inventory. He couldn’t be sure, obviously, as people like Alixa could take equipment and craft it into ordinary clothing—like Mr. Oren’s lab coat. Granted, he was still pretty sure that whatever bizarre outfit she was wearing was normal and not related to the world of adventuring.

Actually, what in the hell is she wearing?

She was in some kind of all-white suit, though it was thicker than any suit he’d ever seen, almost protective in a sense. It was like some kind of flight suit, only with a greater width. There were also holes torn in various places along the suit as though she’d been attacked by something with either claws or teeth. Behind her, mere inches from the wall she’d stumbled through, was a large helmet with a visor that couldn’t be seen through. It was cracked in numerous places.

The woman lifted her hand, appearing to strain with the effort of it, and she glanced adoringly at him as she touched his cheek. “I know…you,” she said again with a groan.

“I know you do,” he said to her. “Now get ready. I’m going to—”

“Spawn point, Whispery Woods,” she said with a wince. “You and Kalana. Fell in. Found mobs, got level 2.”

Zach wasn’t sure who gasped first: him or Kalana. “W-what?” they both said in unison. Then Zach met Kalana’s eyes. “Did you just hear what I heard?”

“Yeah,” Kalana said in a whisper. “She said…she was talking about when we fell into the water and found the spawn point. How does she know about that?” Within a tenth of a second after asking the question, Kalana shook her head as though to snap herself out of a trance or wake herself up. “Gah, it doesn’t matter how! Zach, we have to help her. We can find this stuff out later.”

He nodded and lifted her up. She cried out in pain. “I know it hurts. We’re right near Angelica’s.”

“Yes…yes, take me. Please! My name…name’s Prila.”

And with that, Zach raced with the woman in his arms down the hall, Kalana by his side. This wasn’t quite how he wanted Kal’s first trip to Angelica’s to go, but at least she’d gotten there.